Saturday, March 09, 2013

Dr Lakra - Art from Oaxaca, Mexico

This book gathers the splendid work of Mexican artist Dr. Lakra, who super imposes mystical, ancient or funerary symbolism gang tattoos, bones and skulls, Aztec warrior heads, spider webs, serpents and demons onto vintage advertisements, girlie pinups, Japanese prints, baby dolls, cast skulls and the like, attaining an effect that resembles a Dia de los Muertos altar slyly erected in place of a kitchen table in the home-furnishings section of a Mexico City department store. In one way or another, the noncivilized human, the nonrefined, the primitive, is always been repressed, in a way that s almost criminal. Dr. Lakra, who also works as a tattoo artist, has said. I think that through these themes you can define the essence of culture. This lavishly illustrated volume contains 120 color images of Lakra s work, plus a contribution from renowned Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco.Dr Lakra (Jeronimo Lopez Ramirez, born 1972, Mexico) is an artist and tattooist based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Apart from tattooing, his art involves embellishing images and other found objects - for instance, dolls, old medical illustrations, and pictures in 1950s Mexican magazines - with macabre or tattoo-style designs.He has shown work internationally in many exhibitions including Stolen Bike at the Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York, Los Dos Amigos at MACO in Mexico, Pin Up at Tate Modern and Pierced Hearts and True Love at The Drawing Center in New York.Hardcover116 pagesEnglish